The Christmas Post

Before I do Christmas I'll do our anniversary. It was December 13th, we've been married 11 years! This is our anniversary tradition:

No-bake strawberry cheesecake and apple cider. We have it every year no matter what else we do. We even brought the cheesecake in tupperware the year we went to Vegas. Also notice the napkin. We saved 100 of our leftover wedding napkins so we'd have enough for 50 anniversaries. Oh also, the glasses are from the Little America Hotel, one of the places we stayed on our honeymoon.


On to the Christmas stuff . . . .

One thing I'm very proud of this year: Jason and I BOTH went to Jessica's class to help her decorate her gingerbread house. We're really loving the idea of doing stuff with individual kids these days. We even invite one of them on our dates sometimes.

Our Christmas Eve tradition is a "Shepherd's Dinner". We have crackers, cheese, sausage, and fruit. This year when I cut open the sausage the kids cried, "it smells like Christmas!"

We did some puzzles too.

For their one Christmas Eve present the kids opened pajamas from Grandma. I got to pick them out! There's nothing like beautiful new jammies.

On Christmas morning I guess I only did video of the present opening, I don't have any pictures of it! But here's some aftermath:

I told the kids that if they wanted their picture taken with all their presents they had to get them all set up themselves. Nat and Jess are the only ones who did:

And here's mandie with her 2 "bees"

Hope everyone else had a fun Christmas!

99 things I may or may not have done.

Got this one from MaryLynn. The bold ones are the things I've done, the purple ones are the things I really want to do!


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (marching band!)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (i was too young to remember, but I did, right mom?)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (sounds fun!)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (officially I was downsized, but I FELT fired!)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (won the cow milking contest on pioneer day in 3rd grade!)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (I think it was a wasp)

Mostly Mandie pics but some other things too.

This is another fairly random post. But hey, my life is nothing these days if not random.

Here's Manda being a helperShe really loves emptying the dishwasher, she and josh were quite a team the other day!

Every morning lately this is what she does the minute I get her jammies off.

Scratch my back mom!

And of course she loves the Christmas tree! And she really loves the tree skirt. She thinks it's a blanket, so she lays on it, lays her babies on it, and even tries to curl up in it.

Okay, then this was a picture tag by Jen, take a pic of yourself with one or some kids. So here's me and Josh. We're BFF.




And of course after that one he made me takes more pics of him, this one cracks me up.

Also, stockings! The kids have had plain store-bought stockings their whole lives, but this year I finally decided how I wanted to do them, and I made them! I even taught myself how to applique! Ta-dah!